MoCool 13 is a mere 16 days away! Some of you may not be aware that MoCool, which is billed as "the world's longest running off-line gathering of wine lovers", owes some of its successful longevity to our own Robin Garr. From 1995 through 2008, Robin chronicled and took pictures at MoCool and helped promote it to the online wine drinking community here. Over the years, it has given many WLDGers a chance to meet in person, and carry on the camaraderie we enjoy in the forum.

So let's see who we will meet this year...please sign in!

For those who would like to join us..go to http://www.mocool.org and plan to go to the greatest wine event of the year. G.I.R.L.S. gone WILD!!!

Wish you could make it, Bob. We actually have a nice Canadian faction that attends. I know last year there were abundant pictures and videos of the event on FaceBook. Someone said it was easier to post pictures there...I don't know about that. We'll do our best to keep the WLDG crowd informed....and enticed!

JuliaB wrote:Wish you could make it, Bob. We actually have a nice Canadian faction that attends. I know last year there were abundant pictures and videos of the event on FaceBook. Someone said it was easier to post pictures there...I don't know about that. We'll do our best to keep the WLDG crowd informed....and enticed!

I have blown caution to the winds, and will be there arriving on Thursday mid afternoon hopefully. My featured on theme wines will be three of some pretty special Spanish red wines. Along with a story on how they were selected. Will likely bring a couple CndP probably Pegau. Will likely have something decent for opening on Thursday and Friday evenings too.

My sister-in-law Luci and I will be attending and arriving on Fri. afternoon. I got a note from Ol' Willie (William Holmes)that he will be celebrating his and Beth's 50th anniversary at that time and not able to attend, which is too bad as he said the theme wines were his favorites.

JuliaB wrote:Wish you could make it, Bob. We actually have a nice Canadian faction that attends. I know last year there were abundant pictures and videos of the event on FaceBook. Someone said it was easier to post pictures there...I don't know about that. We'll do our best to keep the WLDG crowd informed....and enticed!

I'm still mulling over bottles, although Pegau, Beaucastel and Prüm on the definite "Saturday" list. Probably find at least one Muscadet and a cab franc to cover the Loire (maybe desert as well?). Adding a special German for Trombley to go with the traveling Sundial bottles, and I'll dig up a few from Spain (maybe a Rioja, and some older Clos Erasmus.... and probably others). That leaves Italy, which I'm going to have to defer to Marwan as the only bottle I have worthy of bringing is too young (I'm very poor when it comes to Italian bottles in the cellar).

Mike Conner wrote:I'm in (along with Marwan). And, thanks to Kroger's sale flyer this week, looks like we'll have beef for Thursday!

Speaking of Thursday I am thinking of Shrimp in a Provencal butter wine sauce over Polenta dish for an appetizer to start the evening. Something a little lighter which should go well with a Chardonnay before the beef and big reds come out!

To do is to be. - Socrates
To be is to do. - Jean-Paul Sartre, Plato
Do-be-do-be-do. Frank Sinatra

For Thursday we are thinking about Salmon with Oregon Pinot (Argyle Nuthouse and/or Archery Summit) and a Zinfandel. For Friday we are leaning toward Bordeaux and we are still narrowing down the theme wines for Saturday. Riesling and CdP will definitely be in the mix.

I am still trying to make a deal for a 76er Auslese to bring, but no luck so far. The provenance is somewhat iffy with significant label decay and the owner wants too much in cash or trade. My "best and final" offer was met with complete silence.

Sam

"The biggest problem most people have is that they think they shouldn't have any." - Tony Robbins

Sam Platt wrote:For Thursday we are thinking about Salmon with Oregon Pinot (Argyle Nuthouse and/or Archery Summit) and a Zinfandel. For Friday we are leaning toward Bordeaux and we are still narrowing down the theme wines for Saturday. Riesling and CdP will definitely be in the mix.

I am still trying to make a deal for a 76er Auslese to bring, but no luck so far. The provenance is somewhat iffy with significant label decay and the owner wants too much in cash or trade. My "best and final" offer was met with complete silence.

This interests me. With all the different wines consumed over the 2/3 day period, how does one coordinate the food/s?

Alan takes care of coordinating the menu with the wine theme on Saturday. Friday is typically a mish-mash of good wines making menu coordination impossible. For Thursday we are bringing a wine to match the food that we plan to supply for impromptu carry-in dinner.

Sam

"The biggest problem most people have is that they think they shouldn't have any." - Tony Robbins

Cindy and I look forward to reuniting with the MoCooligan gang in less than two weeks! Haven't finalized the wines but a Donnhoff Spatlese is on the short list. Have a bunch of barolos (baroli??), brunello, and amarone from which to choose. A Pegau or Beau CdP. Probably a nice little Champalou Vouvray as my Loire inventory is pretty small....and Spain as well.

Bob Parsons Alberta wrote:This interests me. With all the different wines consumed over the 2/3 day period, how does one coordinate the food/s?

Bob,

As Sam pointed out, Alan does the menu for Saturday and he selects dishes to go with each type of wine. Specific types may only have an appetizer to match, but there will be something. Typically we will have about a dozen different types of appetizers, plus cheeses. The main dishes are usually chosen to go with big reds, which most people bring for their dinner wines.

Thursday night is a party just for people staying in the cabins on site, and we usually chose a theme that is different than the MoCool theme. This year we have not done that, however everyone brings a dish and wine to match. Friday night is a out-of-town MoCooler party at one of the local organizers home. That is a catch all and everyone brings some mighty fine wines and there is no real coordination of wine and food. There will be good matches, but that just happens coincidentally.

Bob Noland wrote:Speaking of Thursday I am thinking of Shrimp in a Provencal butter wine sauce over Polenta dish for an appetizer to start the evening. Something a little lighter which should go well with a Chardonnay before the beef and big reds come out!

Sam Platt wrote:For Thursday we are thinking about Salmon with Oregon Pinot (Argyle Nuthouse and/or Archery Summit) and a Zinfandel.

Besides beef, I might consider duck if my one source has a good supply of breasts. The only small issue would be cooking it -- not really the best on the grill as the rendering fat usually causes flames. And, not looking to smoke up (or heat up) the cabin [I like to cook first on fat side, flip over and place in oven for a bit to bring up temp more evenly]..... I'll ponder it between now and decision time.

I'll definitely try to bring along some local tomatoes again as I did last year. Heard the crop in MI was a little late this year....

Bob Noland wrote:Speaking of Thursday I am thinking of Shrimp in a Provencal butter wine sauce over Polenta dish for an appetizer to start the evening. Something a little lighter which should go well with a Chardonnay before the beef and big reds come out!

Sam Platt wrote:For Thursday we are thinking about Salmon with Oregon Pinot (Argyle Nuthouse and/or Archery Summit) and a Zinfandel.

Besides beef, I might consider duck if my one source has a good supply of breasts. The only small issue would be cooking it -- not really the best on the grill as the rendering fat usually causes flames. And, not looking to smoke up (or heat up) the cabin [I like to cook first on fat side, flip over and place in oven for a bit to bring up temp more evenly]..... I'll ponder it between now and decision time.

I'll definitely try to bring along some local tomatoes again as I did last year. Heard the crop in MI was a little late this year....

I am thinking of bringing pork tenderloin, marinating it and cooking medallions on the grill. My pairing would be an Oregon Pinot, Carleton Cellars. However, it looks like the menu is getting quite protein heavy so, I may change my mind. But as far as I am concerned the more pinots the better, especially from the Willamette valley.

Tom N. wrote:I am thinking of bringing pork tenderloin, marinating it and cooking medallions on the grill. My pairing would be an Oregon Pinot, Carleton Cellars. However, it looks like the menu is getting quite protein heavy so, I may change my mind. But as far as I am concerned the more pinots the better, especially from the Willamette valley.

At this point it appears we will have some marinated flank steak for the grill so the protein parade continues. And I may be able to dig up a WV pinot.

Sam Platt wrote:For Thursday we are thinking about Salmon with Oregon Pinot (Argyle Nuthouse and/or Archery Summit) and a Zinfandel. For Friday we are leaning toward Bordeaux and we are still narrowing down the theme wines for Saturday. Riesling and CdP will definitely be in the mix.

I am still trying to make a deal for a 76er Auslese to bring, but no luck so far. The provenance is somewhat iffy with significant label decay and the owner wants too much in cash or trade. My "best and final" offer was met with complete silence.